April 20, 2022, is the first anniversary of the death of Mr. Li Xiaoke.
In order to commemorate Mr. Li Xiaoke, Ke ChengYuan will hold a memorial service for Mr. Li Xiaoke, and the Artron Art Network & Art Headline APP will simultaneously broadcast the memorial service site, and send condolences and thoughts to Mr. Li Xiaoke together with online netizens.
The First Anniversary of Mr. Li Xiaoke (Memorial Service to Commemorate the First Anniversary of the Death of Mr. Li Xiaoke)
When it comes to "Li Family Landscape" and "Art Walker", people always easily think of Mr. Li Xiaoke's "Ink Homeland", and the smile that is common on his face naturally appears in people's minds.
At 11:00 on April 20, 2021, Mr. Li Xiaoke passed away in Beijing due to illness, and a year later, people still miss him. Whenever I see the large number of artistic masterpieces he has left behind, I can always think of his voice and smile.
Mr. Li Xiaoke (1944 – 20 April 2021)
In 1978, Li Xiaoke took a group photo with his father Li Keyan in Huangshan Mountain
The young Li Xiaoke is infected with his father Li Ke
As the son of a generation of art masters Li Keyan, perhaps because of his father's edification and indoctrination since childhood, Li Xiaoke has achieved unprecedented development in artistic cultivation and creation, which has also achieved Li Xiaoke's painting career.
For Li Xiaoke, his father is the leader and enlightener in his artistic life, and he has always created his own art world.
In the 1970s, Mr. and Mrs. Li Kejian zou Peizhu took a group photo with their son Li Xiaoke
Li Xiaoke studied landscape with his father Li Keyan in his early years, and was admitted to the Central Academy of Fine Arts Affiliated Middle School in 1960 to study, after graduation coincided with ten years of catastrophe, until 1973, he picked up the paintbrush again, followed his father Li Keyan to learn Chinese painting, and has been engaged in Chinese painting creation since entering the Beijing Academy of Painting in 1979.
In the early spring of 1947, Li Kejian and his wife Zou Peizhu and their son Li Xiaoke were in Beiping
Li Xiaoke is also known as an "art walker", through continuous sketching practice (more than 20 times deep into Tibet, Qinghai, the source of the Yangtze River, the source of the Yellow River and other places), to enrich the expressive ability of his painting, with a distinct painting language, ingenuity, and finally formed his own style.
From the early "Beijing Series" to the "Hidden Relics Series" and "Landscape huangshan Mountains", Li Xiaoke has spent his life exploring his own "ink homeland" and leaving a large number of artistic masterpieces.
01
Tibet, Li Xiaoke's spiritual homeland
In Li Xiaoke's eyes, "Tibet" is not a simple geographical term, the sun, snowy mountains, cloud shadows, as well as prostrating sacred mountains, prostrating worshippers, colorful mani piles and prayer flags trembling in the wind, all have life in the display, let you calmly opposite, let you pull nerves. Over the past thirty years, the impulses formed by this deep experience of the self have made Li Xiaoke go into Tibet again and again, Ali, Everest, Naqu, Maqu, Xiahe...
In Li Xiaoke's heart, Tibet has long become an immortal spiritual homeland and source of creation.
In 1988, Li Xiaoke and photographer Zheng Yunfeng were at the source of the Yellow River
"In August 1988, I traveled with photographer Zheng Yunfeng to the source of the Yellow River, which made me indissoluble with Tibet for thirty years. This sacred earth and man made me touch the most original state of life and the immortal soul; I felt the beauty of sincerity, awe, gratitude, and the holyness, magnificence, vastness and vastness of nature... Tibet has injected special emotions into my life. I tried to get closer, but she was always far away.
This faraway place contains change, loss and eternity... It's like life is always in the process of transcendence and insurmounity. My ink paintings, sketches, prints, and photographic works just want to make my endless reverence, touching, and memory of Tibet constantly "traced" to express my deep admiration and gratitude for this land and the people there..." This is Li Xiaoke's memory in August 2018 after 30 years of friendship with Tibet.
His father, Li Keyan, used "Shihuahua" to reform Chinese landscape painting, thus creating the glory of the "Li Family Landscape" in the twentieth century. Li Xiaoke, on the other hand, loved Chinese painting under the influence of his family since childhood, and systematically studied Chinese landscape painting under the guidance of his father. Li Xiaoke grew up in Beijing, and Beijing has too many familiar memories of him, and works such as "Palace Wall", "Summer" and "Autumn" are his earlier creations.
In 1990, Li Xiaoke was on his way to the source of the Yangtze River
Since the 1970s, Li Xiaoke has followed his father to Huangshan to sketch, which has also laid the foundation for his sketch-led artistic creation. Since going to Tibet in 1988, Li Xiaoke has thrown himself here wholeheartedly to experience the local customs and customs, Tibetans, living Buddhas, pilgrimages, temples, snow-capped mountains, and clouds, all recorded in his lens, using photography and printmaking to present his artistic feelings. In 2003, he began to create the "Hidden Traces" series of prints, and the humanistic attention and visual expression exploration from a special perspective have aroused strong repercussions in the art world and all walks of life. Since 2005, he has sponsored and planned the Tibetan Contemporary Painting Exhibition of "Snow Painting Practice" and "Great Beauty of Tibet", and made efforts to promote the development of contemporary painting in Tibet.
In 1990, Li Xiaoke took a group photo with herders at the source of the Yangtze River
Over the past few decades, Li Xiaoke's sketching footprints have traveled all over the motherland, and in recent years, he has hiked to foreign countries, and has also gone from being prosperous to the ancient rare year.
"In a year's time, Li Xiaoke will probably be away from home for half of the time. On the fifteenth day of the first month of the Tibetan calendar, there are usually grand Buddhist events, and people are dressed very beautifully. For many years, in my memory, it was the New Year with my children, Li Xiaoke left before the fifth day of junior high school, and Tibet was his second hometown. Every time a Tibetan friend comes, it's someone from home. His wife, Ms. Liu Ying, once described it to Artron Art Network.
In 2016, Li Xiaoke sketched in front of the Potala Palace
"It is not easy to sketch in Tibet, the altitude is high and there is a lack of oxygen, and people's mental state will also be affected, but he is very persistent. This review of thirty years is the deepest emotion he has injected into Tibet, which is a kind of fate, as an independent artist, he expresses his time and feelings, it is here in Tibet, he found his own belonging. Liu Ying said.
In his days of sketching outside, Li Xiaoke often had two companions, one was Zhang Jianbo, the art director of the art museum, and the other was Xiao Wu, a music lover, and the three of them always went to Tibet together and took a lot of videos and photos. "Teacher Li's sketching spirit is super strong, and he can't feel it next to him. He was actually a shy person and afraid of people, but he didn't care when he drew. He can go to the bathroom without eating or drinking. Sketching utensils are also very simple, easels, brushes, boards to buy at the art supply store. The heavy camera bag could not leave his body, except for drawing it by hand, the lens was his second pair of eyes.
Li Xiaoke, "Tibetan Sketching- Holy Land", 2016, 69x138cm coloring paper
Li Xiaoke, "Tibetan Sketching- The Cultivation of Drepung Monastery", 2016, 48x246cm colored paper
Li Xiaoke, "Tibetan Sketches - Tashilhunpo Monastery", 2016, 61x138.5cm colored paper
Li Xiaoke's ink painting "Qing", 2008, 179× 48cm coloring paper
In Li Xiaoke's paintings, landscapes and figures are always vivid. On his sketches of Tibet, there are always distant mountain peaks, huge temples, and monks walking on the road, although the characters are small, but often a few strokes outline the dynamics, and then a few colors, they or talk to each other, accompany each other, it is particularly vivid, revealing a kind of quiet and leisure. Viewers can often feel from the picture that when facing the natural landscape, Li Xiaoke is in awe, and he is also very plain.
Li Xiaoke, "Far Away", 2016, 45x53cm coloring paper
Li Xiaoke, "The Wind of the Temple", 2018, 46x52cm colored paper
Over the years, Li Xiaoke's understanding of Tibet and his artistic expression have also changed. From the concrete writing of mountains, writing water, to entering feelings, abstract elements are extracted from philosophical imagery to join. Li Xiaoke has always maintained the atmosphere of Chinese pen and ink, emphasizing lines, because he feels that lines are the most supportive of Chinese painting. Li Xiao can use lines to express the softness and hardness of objects, and the hardness and softness of figures, rocks, and trees are all presented in his pen, and you look at those floating curtains in the distance, which are also fluttering in his paintings.
Li Xiaoke has several topics commonly used, such as "Snow in the First Moon" and "Far Away", and has repeatedly created many works.
02
Thirty years of hiding
In the decades of traveling around the country, Li Xiaoke has also left a lot of precious photos and left us a lot of memories.
Photographer Zheng Yunfeng asked Mr. Li Keyan to inscription "The water of the Yellow River rises from the sky and flows to the sea without returning." Because a monument was to be erected at the source of the Yellow River, the young Li Xiaoke followed him that time. When he returned from the source of the Yellow River, Li Xiaoke was so tanned that he could hardly recognize him.
Li Xiaoke (photographic work) "Uninvited Guest", the source of the Yangtze River in 1990
In 1990, Li Xiaoke and Zheng Yunfeng went to the source of the Yangtze River, compared with the source of the Yellow River, the source of the Yangtze River is no man's land, there is no way to drive, you can only walk, two local security cadres as guides, take them for 11 days. The natural scenery of the source of the Yangtze River is very special, because of the weathering of the years, the ground is soft, and the cattle walk in, and they fall into the legs and stomachs, so the danger is very large. Finally, he came to a place where people were there, and Li Xiaoke took a picture of them.
In 1996, Li Xiaoke's family went to Tibet for a group photo
In 2011, Li Xiaoke sketched in Zada
In 2013, Li Xiaoke took a group photo with Tibetan compatriots on the way to Collect Wind in Tibet
In 2013, Li Xiaoke entered Tibetan areas for the first time from the Yunnan-Tibet Line to collect wind sketches, and experienced the arrival of Deqin, Mangkang, Zuogong, Ranwu, Bomi, Nyingchi and other places to Lhasa, photographing the Meili Snow Mountain, Mingyong Glacier, Ancient Salt Well, Taohuagou and other scenic landforms. After passing through The Shigatse and Ali regions from Lhasa to photograph the holy mountains and lakes, lhasa experienced the biggest wind and snow weather since 1975, and accumulated materials for artistic creation for 21 days.
In the following years, in order to find a new painting language and feelings, Li Xiaoke went to Tibet many times and had the opportunity to have close contact with Tibetans. At the same time, Li Xiaoke is also paying attention to the development of art in Tibet, he actively participates in the promotion and popularization of public art undertakings, plans many important academic art exhibitions, and pays special attention to the development of Tibetan art, established the "Tibetan Contemporary Painting School", and organized the Snow Field Color Training - Tibet Contemporary Painting Invitation Exhibition, the Great Beauty Tibet - Tibet Contemporary Painting Invitation Exhibition, etc., to promote the development of Tibetan contemporary painting.
Opening ceremony of the exhibition "Blue Sky Pure Land Plateau Painting School"
In 2015, the Beijing Li Kejian Art Foundation Art Museum held the exhibition "Blue Sky Pure Land • Plateau Painting School", which is also the opening exhibition of the new museum of the Li Kejian Art Foundation Art Museum. Artists from Han and Tibet exhibit about 150 works, including ink painting, oil painting, heavy color and other forms.
As one of the advocates and founders of the "Tibetan Contemporary Painting School", Li Xiaowei has been actively promoting Tibetan contemporary painting. At the opening ceremony, Li Xiaoke called on everyone to pay attention to Tibet. "We are touched by the region, the humanities, the spirit of Tibet, and this emotion is transformed into a kind of love, and this love is from the heart, long-lasting, and lingering. The authenticity that people insist on, the love of life, burst out in the cold and snowy plateau, we are full of gratitude and awe, and this spiritual persistence is also what we lack in today's society. Li Xiaoke said.
In 2016, Li Xiaoke sketched in Tibet
Regarding many years of sketching experience, Li Xiaoke said of his own feelings: "The meaning of our sketching is to collide with life, and after sketching, we must go back and integrate pen and ink, tradition, as well as personal aesthetic choices and accumulated experience into it to form a special and own artistic conception." In his paintings, the scenes that the sketches face are not entirely in the picture, his vision is wider, or he only sees the scenery that attracts him to paint.
The famous Tibetan female writer Ma Lihua wrote an article called Through Xiao Ke's Eyes, she believes that the beauty of Tibet has been magnified through li Xiaoke's inner beauty and tolerance. In the 2018 exhibition "Hidden Traces - Li Xiaoke's Sketching Road", a photo wall was arranged, which completely recorded Li Xiaoke's real step-by-step tibetan traces, which not only gave him artistic inspiration, but also tempered his will.
03
Hidden Photography
As an artist, Li Xiaoke has a strong control over composition. For decades, Li Xiaoke always carried a video camera with him, found a good scenery, and immediately pressed the shutter. Many of his shots were even taken in bumps.
The hiding place in Li Xiaoke's lens is calm, without deliberately looking up and down, unfolding one by one in the center of his horizon. Whether it is the snow-capped mountains in front of him or the look back of a monk, he records the moment that touches the most heart, and each work has a back story.
Li Xiaoke (photographic work) "Heyuan Girl", Yellow River source, 1988
Li Xiaoke (photographic work) "Pure World", 1990 Yangtze River Source
But today, these huge glaciers have disappeared
Li Xiaoke (photography) "Mountain Soul", Mount Everest, 2013
Li Xiaoke (photography) "Want to Come Out", Kailash, 2011
In Tibetan areas, Li Xiaoke always seems to have "God" to take care of him. He went to Everest Base Camp seven times, and all photographed Mount Everest. Many people have not seen it once, because the clouds seal the top of the mountain. Li Xiaoke's longest standing was two hours, usually forty minutes or half an hour, but Everest only opened for a moment, and the peak was revealed from the cloud cave. One of the works, Li Xiaoke, is named "Heavenly Eye", which means that this is a gift from nature to him.
Tibet gave Li Xiaoke the opportunity to present his soul, so just speaking with the camera was unsatisfied for him. So over the years, he began to re-examine the nearly 10,000 photographs, recombining photographic art, digital technology and handmade silkscreen printmaking technology, and different from the documentary of photography, here he created a more subjective Tibetan place. In the continuous identity transformation of painting, photography and printmaking, he found his own artistic expression.
04
Hidden prints
"The nearly 10,000 photos left in Tibet have become an indelible memory in my life. As the years passed, I was still touched by these memories and began to explore the use of printmaking language to reproduce the picture full of agility and passion... In the course of creation, I am like the Tibetans of that generation who have spent their lives carving Buddha statues and scriptures on stone and printing them on prayer flags, and with a sincere heart, I have continuously traced this immortal memory to express my deep admiration and touch for Tibetans in Tibet..."
In 2004, Li Xiaoke explored the re-creation of nearly 10,000 photos taken by the Tibetan experience, combining the language of printmaking with documentary photography, giving new expressiveness to the original works, and beginning the creation of the "Tibetan Traces" series of printmaking works. From photographic plate making, to the complex color separation of hand, to the reconstruction of the background texture, to the subjective change of color, and then to more than twenty versions of complex chromatic manual printing, it constitutes a complete system engineering of digitalization and manual combination. Li Xiaoke's photographs taken in Tibet formed the basis of his printmaking creation, and the artist's aesthetic of man and nature was amplified and more subjectively shaped.
"Joy" silkscreen print, 2009, 90×62cm
"They" silkscreen print, 2011, 90×226cm
In the production of the later prints, Li Xiaoke placed himself on the right side of the picture
Over the years, Li Xiaoke's prints have become works with independence. He once said: "Making these thousands of prints, like the Mani stone carved by Tibetans, does not pay attention to technology and personality, it is a knife and a knife." He not only took pilgrims, Zen monks, herders, and living Buddhas as the themes of intertwining vision, but even incorporated his portraits into the context of the picture, pinning his enthusiasm for Tibet.
In front of the Potala Palace, Li Xiaoke and they met a group of Tibetans from Ganzi, Sichuan Province, who had been sponsored by the whole village to come all the way to the Potala Palace to worship and walked for half a year. At that time, Li Xiaoke took a picture of them, and after taking the photo, he quickly ran to the photo studio to wash it out and give it to everyone, and later in the production of the prints, he also added himself to it, as well as the Snow Mountain and the Potala Palace. Because he felt that his artistic path was like theirs on the road of pilgrimage. Li Xiaoke once said: "All my works are the work on the road of my life, not to say how good or bad, or like the peasants' labor, ploughing and harvesting, just like this." ”
Tibetans are very romantic, and almost always have flower pots on the balconies of Tibetan homes, and Li Xiaoke has also made prints on this subject. The paper on which the prints are printed is carefully selected and handmade.
Window, silkscreen print, 2010, 85x43cm
Pray for Heaven, Silkscreen Print, 2009, 56×93cm
Every time Li Xiaoke went to Tibetan areas, he photographed a large number of people, and he gathered these interesting and emotional portraits to make prints, and he himself was among them, using scriptures as a background. He brought people's emotions closer at once, and these shots were left in the camera and engraved in Li Xiaoke's memory. When it is expressed again with prints, the desire to inject oneself into it becomes stronger.
Li Xiaoke is an audiophile of photography and audio equipment, and every update of his equipment is his extreme pursuit of audiovisual. Therefore, the use of computers does not create obstacles for him, but a tool. As Wu Hongliang said: "Not only that, this work is also very different from his personal creation as a Chinese painter, at this time he is more like a director." What is interesting is that he is planning, organizing, and implementing the process of creation, and it is also the process of returning people to machines and returning to people. ”
In 2016, Li Xiaoke took a photo in The Tibetan Area
Li Xiaoke expressed his deep affection for this land that injected special emotions into his life, not only hiding the land that attracted him, but every corner of the world he wanted to collide.
On the evening of April 20, 2021, Mr. Li Xiaoke left forever, and we all remembered his voice and his kind smile, as if he was still in front of us. Just like this 76-year-old gentleman, still on the road, with a heart that is always young, smiling, striding forward.
05
Relive Mr. Painting
"Ink Homeland" - Beijing series of works
"Ink Homeland" is one of the themes that Li Xiaoke has paid attention to and expressed over the years. "Many of the home environments that we are very familiar with, closely linked to history, culture, experiences and emotions, disappear unconsciously before you have time to look back. Beijing's courtyards, Beijing's hutongs, willows under the palace walls, red walls outside the imperial city, and old locust trees are composed of quiet shades... All of this affects people's feelings and becomes people's emotional dependence and spiritual sustenance. Li Xiaoke has talked many times about cherishing the lost time.
Shoot snow scenes
"Ink Homeland" is the strong impression and memory of the fading homeland that Li Xiaoke can expect to express with his own ink language. As people living in this era of change, we must not cut off history and forget yesterday; we must face the future and create tomorrow.
Li Xiaoke - Beijing series "Palace Wall", 2004, 94.5×95.5cm
Li Xiaoke - Beijing series Xia, 1998, 78× 151cm
Li Xiaoke - Beijing series "Snow", 2010, 68×68cm
"Hidden Traces in the Snow" - Tibetan series of works
Li Xiaoke is in Tibet
In order to find a new painting language and feelings, Li Xiaoke went to western Tibet many times. "After going through the source of the Yellow River, the source of the Yangtze River, Qaidam, Ali, Mount Everest, Nagqu, Maqu, Luqu, Xiahe... I have the opportunity to have close contact with Tibetans in Tibet. The purity and breadth of Tibet, the thickness and vastness of the Tibetans, and the authenticity, toughness and simplicity of the Tibetans all shocked me---- it is a mysterious place that haunts people's dreams. I tried to get closer, but it was always far away, always containing change, loss and eternity... Tibet has become my immortal spiritual homeland..." Li Xiaoke went to Tibet several times and created a large number of Tibetan heritage series works.
Li Xiaoke - Tibet series "Mountain Soul", 1999, 99×105cm
Li Xiaoke - Tibetan series "Spring Moon", 2017, 103x99cm
Li Xiaoke - Tibet series "Mountain Soul", 2013, 96×180cm
"Landscape huangshan" - Huangshan series of works
Li Xiaoke sketched in Huangshan
Huangshan is a sacred place for Chinese landscape painting. In 1978, Li Xiaoke accompanied his father to Huangshan to sketch, and had the honor of meeting mr. Higashiyama Kuiyi, a famous Japanese painter. Since then, he has gone to Huangshan many times to sketch. In 2007, the Huangshan Scenic Area Management Committee established the Huangshan Calligraphy and Painting Institute, and invited Li Xiaoke to be the president of the Calligraphy and Painting Institute. This further continues Li Xiaoke's love affair with Huangshan, and also shoulders the responsibility of painting Huangshan and dedicating himself to Huangshan. Huangshan and southern Anhui have become important opportunities and contents for Li Xiaoke to explore the performance of landscape painting.
Li Xiaoke - Huangshan series "Yunshan", 2011, 70x68.5cm
Li Xiaoke - Huangshan series "Spring", 2019, 69x46.5cm
Li Xiaoke - Huangshan series "Cangmo", 2014, 48.5×44.5cm
"Teaching Nature" - sketching series
Li Xiaoke is in sketching
"Sketching" is an important link for the artist to connect the emotions given by nature with the traditional stylized forms of expression and personal aesthetic choices, is the rediscovery and re-understanding of nature and tradition, and is an important part of the practice of the basic skills of landscape painting, the most vigorous and vibrant. Sketching is the artist's mind facing the rapidly changing objective world, which can collide traditional and contemporary culture and personal expressive experience, stimulate unlimited creative inspiration, and promote new discoveries in the aesthetic field.
Li Xiaoke - Sketch series "Anhui Sketch - Xidi", 2011, 54×70cm
Li Xiaoke - Sketch series "Anhui Sketching - Chengkan", 2011, 54×70cm
Li Xiaoke - Sketch series "American Sketch - Tree", 139x57cm, 2018
Li Xiaoke - Sketch series "Japanese Sketching - Mt. Fuji", 2019, 33.5x48.5cm